


The Walk

by chicagoartnerd (orphan_account)



Series: The Bite That Binds [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Always-a-girl!Stiles, F/F, F/M, M/M, Pack Dynamics, Sexswap, always-a-girl!Derek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-26
Updated: 2012-08-29
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:01:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/chicagoartnerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles was pretty sure that her life couldn't get more complicated than trying to defeat a band of psychopathic Hunters and a paralytic were-gecko.<br/>She was wrong. Being pack-mom was rewarding but profoundly weird. Were-wolves were weird. The rest of her life was going to be really weird.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this in mid July and am just now getting around to posting it. I had to go through two betas to find one who had the time to look over this monster. It's currently 25k but it's going to be about double that. I love to write longfic what can I say? My awesome beta AE is super quick so I will be posting the next chapter tomorrow woo!
> 
> Also I made the cover for this piece but would be eternally in love with you if you wanted make art for this. Any and all art will be adored and linked. <3

[](http://imgur.com/dKGjv)

[http://archiveofourown.org/works/496650](../496650)

 

Bad dreams again. So much blood and wailing and a horrible sense of helplessness. Stiles hated those dreams so much. 

They were terrifying, not just because everyone she cared about was being ripped apart by people with guns and shadows with teeth, but because there was nothing she could do but die along with them.

Her eyes snapped open and she winced at the heavy sticky feeling between her legs.

Great.

She angrily ripped off her sheets and grumbled as she shoved them in the sink in a bath of hydrogen peroxide and turned both taps on before jumping into the shower and morosely watching blood pink as it swirled around the drain.

A superstitious person might take this an ill omen.

Well she was superstitious, but she was also a girl and this happened once a month. Odds were in her favor that it would coincide with a bloody dream at least a few times.

But she was still unusually on edge when she got to school.

While digging through her locker Scott came up to her and stopped dead in his tracks,  
“Uh you’re bleeding?”  
Stiles whipped around and shoved the locker shut angrily,  
“Wow, way to go and make things really awkward with you super senses there Scott.”  
“But you’re not hurt anywhere and…oh. Oh God sorry.” 

She wanted to bite off some retort about Scott’s Mom being a nurse and him dating an actual real life girl and how the hell did he not know this stuff but she reined it in.

Scott was just being Scott, and as annoying as that was sometimes he really couldn’t help how dumb he was. 

Which was why she sulked off to first period AP English to slide into a seat behind perfect, radiant, unobtainable Lydia.

Lydia, who really needed to be told what the hell was going on. 

She’d been mauled half to death by Peter Hale for fuck’s sake. 

A small shiver overtook Stiles and she remembered that she could have been the next Lydia. Peter had offered the bite to Stiles and had looked about ready to give it to her, whether she wanted it or not, like he had to Lydia and that was really terrifying. 

Come to think of it she probably had the beginnings of PTSD. 

As her friends they really needed to tell her what was going on.  It was cruel and dumb to keep avoiding her. 

Lydia and Stiles’ dad were at the top of the list of people who should be clued in on situation **Werewolves Are Real** : Beacon Hills Edition.

Because honestly they might as well be playing Avengers here. Well Stiles was probably Pepper Potts in this scenario, but they were, in fact, in high school and in way over their heads. 

Hell Tony Stark didn’t get into MIT until he was 17. 

She mentally started allotting who would be which Avenger in her head, Allison as Hawkeye because duh archery, and Scott as Thor because powerful but not too quick in the wits department. Lydia would probably be Tony, because charismatic, popular, and a genius, and Derric would be the Hulk because she was silent and brooding with the possibility of going berserk any second. 

Yeah she needed to stop that train of thought right there.

Stiles still wondered what would have happened if it had been Scott instead of her that her dad caught out in the woods that fateful night four months ago.  

Not that she particularly wanted to be a werewolf after all of the shit she’d seen. 

And she sure as hell didn’t envy what Jackson had become.

But watching Allison kick some major ass with a recurve bow had made her more than a bit self-conscious.  

Research was good, know thy enemy and all that, but anyone with half an ounce of google-fu could do her job and she knew it.  

Derric had said that she was a part of Scott’s pack, which basically consisted of her, Scott, and Allison. And big lady-wolf on campus would know now that she was head Alpha in charge and all.  

That still didn’t mean much to her because as far as packs went theirs kinda sucked. Not that Derric’s was hot shit with sad face-McGee, female vendetta face-McGee, and Boyd.  

Boyd was pretty much the only stable solid person Derric had given the bite to and she knew it. 

Stiles could see a mile off when someone was putting on false bravado to cover up poor life choices; she’d been in school with Jackson since Kindergarten.

The bell rang and startled her violently. But no one called her on the fact that she hadn’t heard a single word any one had spoken to her in the fifty-minute class. 

Stiles suspected this was more the fault of the United States Educational system than her overactive thought patterns. She had, after all, not taken very much Adderall this morning. 

Also some scientists believed a lot of ADD that was diagnosed was simply because kids weren’t being challenged enough in school, like Matilda but without the freaky telekinetic powers.

Chemistry class would give her no such allowances.  

Mr. Harris was a bucket of dicks. And really creepy to boot. Most of the students called him Bad-touch teacher because his presence just skeeved them out. 

He was yet another example of someone who shouldn’t be allowed to teach high school.  

She was paired with Scott and all they were doing was checking the PH of various liquids so it wasn’t too terrible. 

Scott did manage to mix up the strips but because Stiles already knew the PH of all the things they were testing she arranged them in the correct order. Harris still yelled at them and if they had been at Hogwarts they would have been docked House points. 

He was even more high strung and pissy than usual today.

She was pretty much done packing up her backpack when she saw Harris go up and put his hands on Jackson’s shoulders and start talking to him in hushed tones. 

Okay that was a red flag right there. 

Stiles did have an overactive imagination, pretty much an overactive everything, but after all the shit that had been going on and Jackson being identified as the Kanima, well that was pretty suspicious.

She was going to have to look into it. 

She left the classroom stealthily and Derric of all people, was lying in wait for her in the shadows by the cafeteria. 

Yeah the fact that no one noticed a twenty three year old accused murderer running around Beacon Hills High still baffled her.

It was probably because Beacon Hills totally saw enough weird to be completely desensitized to anything that bordered on normal levels of creepy.

And so she simply waited for Derric to corner her, probably loom menacingly, and then shove her on/in something to get her to help. That’s pretty much how it always went with them. It was formulaic and strangely comforting.  

Especially on a day where she literally woke on the bloody side of the bed.

Derric followed her silently as she skirted around the cafeteria towards a deserted commons that had easy access to a door outside. 

Seniors used it to sneak outside to smoke. Putting on her normal exasperated look she called out behind her,

“You know you could just text me like a normal person. I know it’s not impossible for werewolves because Scott does it, albeit with terrible grammar, all the time.”  
There was a low huff from nearly directly behind her ear and she did flip around wide-eyed at that. 

Derric was in her personal space again. She wasn’t more than three or four inches taller than Stiles but it felt like three feet whenever she did this.

“Also you don’t have to loom. I am significantly cowed by your mere presence.”  
Default sarcasm. She bandied it like a Virbranium shield.  
“I need your pack’s help.”  
Stiles raised an eyebrow,  
“When don’t you dude?”  
Derric's eyes flashed red warning but she suddenly backed up out of Stiles’ personal bubble.  
“Jackson is proving more deadly that I predicted and I can’t do it alone. I’ve got my pack but they haven’t experienced their first full moon yet. They’re untested and the Kanima is frankly out of their league.”  
“And you think Scott, the werewolf equivalent of Thor, and Allison playing double agent Snape style, and little old red riding hood herself can?”  
“Really Stiles? A Big Bad wolf reference?”  
She rolled her eyes and Stiles exploded,  
“We’re in way over our heads here in case you haven’t noticed! I know you’re trying to go all Balto here and save the town from lizard polio but the rest of us are **IN HIGH SCHOOL**. Do you remember what that was like or is your head too far up your alpha as-“  
And there’s the shoving against the lockers violently. She almost missed it.  
“If we don’t stop whoever is controlling it the Hunters will kill Jackson.”  
Stiles stopped fighting against Derric’s arm at her throat and looked at her steadily,  
“Isn’t that what you’re going to do?”  
Derric seemed to falter and then relax her pressure on Stiles’ throat,  
“No. The Kanima is a corruption of the werewolf bite. If we can kill his master and then get Jackson to resolve whatever made him want revenge on murderers he will be part of my Pack. And you don’t kill pack.”  
“Unless said pack member has gone bat-shit evil and is killing hunters and normal people alike. Or perhaps only when said evil pack member is an alpha you can kill and take their powers to use them to rebuild what you lost.”  
She knew she had gone too far but Stiles lacked the really important brain to mouth filter when she was nervous. 

Derric growled and her eyes glowed red as she shoved Stiles one last violent time against the lockers.

“What would you know about it? You still have a family.”  
She bristled and automatically spat,  
“Hello, dead Mother!”  
Derric’s head whipped fiercely back and they locked eyes,  
“You’re not the only one who has experienced loss. And I get it, Laura was your last lifeline, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to my dad. Which is why you’ve got to fucking grow up and be responsible enough to stop things from killing people.”  
“That’s what I’m trying to do!”  
Her voice was gravelly, rough, not in anger but despair.  
“Well, no offense meant, but you kinda suck at it. Why did it occur to you to give werewolf powers to an abuse victim and bullying victim?”  
“They were helpless and lost, they needed support they weren’t getting from anywhere else. They needed to be part of family, a Pack.”  
“And isolating them from the people that do care about them and showering them with physical violence is good for these damaged souls how?”  
She did actually wolf out a little then, her fangs extending and her eyes glowing full on red,  
“That’s how you train a werewolf. In order to control the change and themselves they have to channel their rage into a grounding force, an anchor.”  
“Not to sound stupid here but is that the only feeling they could use to ground their transformation? I don’t think it is because as dense as Scott is even he knows how to control his wolf by using the will to protect people.”

Stiles was not expecting her to back down but she did. 

She faced away and looked out at the woods outside longingly. If Stiles didn’t know better she could have sworn she was about to run away.

“Anger is the easiest thing for me to channel. It’s probably the easiest for Isaac and Erica. Boyd doesn’t use anger to bring on the transformation. It might be why he’s more reliable.”

“I’ll go talk to Scott. Maybe we can go to Doc Deaton and see if there’s any way to tranq Jackson before he goes all Killer Croc again.”

Derric didn’t say thank you. Instead she just snorted and turned to leave calling back over her shoulder,

“You’d make a terrible Batman Stiles.”

She was out the door and disappearing into the forest by the time Stiles snapped out of her shock and muttered,

“I see myself more as Oracle, but whatever.”

Stiles had to flail double time at Scott to get him to agree to team up with Derric and ultimately it was Allison who made him commit.

Which was nothing new but maybe after thirteen years of Stiles’ saving his ass constantly he would have a bit more respect for her decision making process. 

She wasn’t perfect but she was the one to figure out Scott had been bitten by  **A WEREWOLF.**

Speaking of which more furry trouble seemed to be heading her way more and more every day. It was like Beacon Hills High was a weird magnet. If only there was some way to ward it against Supernatural evil.

She made a mental note to look into witchcraft as a legitimate practice. 

Now that shape shifters were totally a thing who knew what else was out there. Her mind flew to some truly terrifying possibilities, vampires would not be sexy in real life, and if wendingos were a thing she would actually vomit in or on something. Seriously.

The rest of the school day was spent fidgeting and nervously tapping her Chucks against the desk of whichever poor guy was in front of her. 

She wanted to stop jittering but people were dying and the dude who was doing it, albeit involuntarily, was sitting at the front of the class. It was more than a little distracting.

After the final bell she hauled Scott out to the Jeep and drove straight to the Veterinary clinic,

“But I don’t have to be in to work until five.”

Stiles rolled her eyes at Scott’s grousing,

“We’re not going there to clean out kennels. We’re on an official Supernatural type business trip.”

“What makes you think Doctor Deaton can help?”

“Dude he knows about werewolves and probably a lot more. It’s a complete waste of time to talk to someone like that right?”

Scott looked genuinely confused and Stiles sighed.

When they went inside the front office low and behold Derric was skulking there already and she had brought angry puppy number one. She nodded stoically to Scott and glared at Stiles. Isaac ignored both of them in favor of picking things up in the office and sniffing them. 

She simply rolled her eyes and walked around back to the operating tables where Deaton was cleaning some instruments in a sterile solution.  

He finished and then pulled out several vials and laid them on the table.

“I couldn’t find anything to incapacitate the Kanima. But I did discover something useful about the master/servant relationship. Whatever physical effect is in place on the Kanima also affects its master.”  
“So if we find a way to fence in the Kanima the master will be trapped as well?”

Derric was leaning in actually showing interest on her face.

Which Stiles had to marvel a little at, any expressions other than brooding and snarling were surprising.

“This is consecrated wood ash, it’s powerful enough to ward against Supernatural beings, the clinic is ringed with it.”  
“If it works so well how are wolf one and wolf two and wolf assistant in here with us?”  
Deaton smiled at Stiles and said,  
“The wood ash is inert on its own. It needs to be activated by someone with intent and given a purpose. I temporarily deactivated it to let them in.”  
Isaac leaned forward farther than Derric and said hungrily,  
“Are you a witch?”  
Deaton looked at him openly and said,  
“I’m a veterinarian.”

Everyone in the room, except maybe Scott, knew that werewolves could tell if you were lying.

He seemed to have passed the paws polygraph because the wolves remained patiently silent.

“I’m going to give you a bag of wood ash that you can use to trap Jackson wherever he is going to attack his next victim. It has to go around the parameter in a complete circuit.”  
“Stiles, it has to be you to do it. Simply create a circle and will it to trap anything dangerous inside it and keep anything dangerous out.”  
“You’re trusting me with this? The only scrawny human in the bunch?”

Deaton turned serious and said,

“It takes a special type of person to activate things like wood ash. You have to have a strong intent in mind and you have to believe you can do it. It won’t work unless you believe it will.”

That was most certainly a head-trip. He was basically telling her to stop being so down on herself and believe that she was just as special as Scott with his super awesome werewolf strength and Derric with her Alpha shape shifting pack making powers of doom.  

She lost the ability to words so she simply nodded seriously at Deaton as he handed her a comically large black garbage bag full of sacred ash.  

Now all they had to do was figure out who Jackson was targeting next. 

Which knowing how “pack” dynamics had worked in the past would involve Stiles doing the research in the library, Scott making out with Allison, and Derric doing God knows what to her new recruits in her creepy tunnel lair.

As it turned out Stiles wasn’t the only one to be doing some digging and got an unexpected tip from her Dad. 

He was playing Sherlock Holmes and had a giant evidence web behind his desk at home.

She couldn’t help but ogle it when she brought him a very healthy dinner that night. Which he protested against adamantly.  

He ate vegetarian food when she cooked it mostly because she added enough spices that he couldn’t tell she hadn’t used real meat. 

With all the furry shenanigans she no longer had time to do home cooked meals. This one was of the fast food variety so it was bound to be a little bland because spices took money and time to prepare properly.

And so being her she couldn’t drop a clue when it was smacking her in the face. And ended up asking her Dad a million and one questions about what was going on in his big crime board of weird. He was so excited as he explained how he had found a connection between the victims and Stiles could see he had almost figured everything out, he was almost dancing with wolves but he hadn’t quite made it into their circle yet. 

Now would be the perfect time to tell him. To prove to him that what was going on in Beacon Hills was of a Supernatural nature.  

But Derric’s eyes flashed red warningly in her head and she stopped herself. She was going to have it out with that dog after this Kanima business was done because her Dad and Lydia knew all the occurrences but didn’t have any explanation. 

And that was the worst. 

That helplessness thing sucked, she knew it well.

Her dad noticed all the victims were 24 so he figured they might have been in the same High School class. So they ended up flipping through some of the previous yearbooks of students. 

Her Dad thought he broke the pattern because all the victims so far were in the same chemistry class in the same year in 2006.  

She quickly jotted the names down.  

And then made a mental note to make Scott or one of the other wolves keep an eye on Mr. Harris because he was on that list. His involvement was just too much to be a coincidence and she didn’t like how rotten things were getting in Denmark. 

She also thought to ask Derric about it because she might have been attending Beacon Hills High with some of them before the fire.

Stiles went to bed early only to be startled to find Derric lurking between her window and computer desk,

“One of these days you’re going to give me a heart attack. Or at least an Alpha sized ulcer. Jesus.”  
She simply watched Stiles as she took off her hoodie and flopped down on her bed.   
When the silence continued she sighed,  
“What do you want?”  
“Scott knows where Jackson’s next target is. He followed him to an underground Rave in the warehouse district. The actual Rave isn’t until Friday but you need to get tickets for Scott, Erica, Isaac, and yourself to get in.”  
“Ugh. Couldn’t this have waited till daylight after I had had a full night’s sleep, curled up with a heating pad, and eaten half a pound of chocolate?”  
“Is that your nightly ritual?”  
Her expression was almost playful and Stiles stared at her lost before snapping back,

“No! Do werewolves not have periods or something? ‘Cause right about now that has a definite appeal.”

Her eyes flashed and suddenly she was in front of Stiles who no longer felt so comfortable reclining flat on her back and vulnerable on her bed.

“Would you take the bite if that was one of the side effects?”

Derric watched her gulp, which was creepy and hot at the same time. She had to fight her voice to make it come out less squeaky,

“I don’t think so. I already have enough hormonal issues thank you.”  
She huffed and sat down in Stiles’ computer chair across from her,  
“’Yes we still menstruate. It’s the same amount of annoying it is for humans. We notice when others are bleeding but it’s simple etiquette not to mention we know it.”

“Yeah well then you need to take Scott to _Derric’s_ _Charm School for Were-Ladies_ because he announced it horrified this morning to half the North hallway.”

She could have sworn the stifled noise that came from her might have been a chuckle but that would’ve just been absurd. 

Absolutely inconceivable, and she did know what that word meant thank you very much.

“Scott understands how to control his wolf better than the others, mostly because he has Allison to ground his transformation. I’m learning there are a lot of other things Scott doesn’t get.”  
“You could fill several hefty books on all the subjects that boy doesn’t know. He is in fact a loyal and lovable moron.”  
“Yes but he’s our moron.”  
Stiles smiled lopsidedly,  
“Since when is he yours?”  
“Since you and Scott decided to temporarily merge your pack with mine.”  
“You keep saying that. You came to me instead of Scott to ask for our pack’s help. It’s like I’m in charge of Scott or something even though he’s technically the Alpha.”  
Derric shifted uncomfortably and then looked piercingly at her,

“That’s because he listens to you. For the most part. Because, yes, you are still human so you are physically less than him, but in dominance you are greater. You are a leader Stiles. And now that our packs have merged you are even more important.”

She actually choked at that.

“I’m higher than Isaac and Erica and even Boyd who is not completely mad with power?”  
Derric nodded solemnly and got a belly laugh in return from Stiles,

“Oh man this is great. I can totally order Erica not to push me down the back stairwell any more and get Isaac to carry my books and shit. And they have to because of werewolf reasons.”

Derric growled at her and she threw her hands up in defense,

“I was just kidding! I won’t abuse my newfound authority. Not like I wasn’t bossing everyone around before but now they actually have to listen.”  
But somehow that wasn’t the part that Derric had had a problem with,  
“How long has Erica been hurting you?”  
“Um since you gave her the bite. She could be hitting me a lot harder to be honest. She only knocked me out once.”

In a flash she was on her feet and pacing madly across the floor,

“I told her to convince you to tell us who the Kanima was, not brutalize the information out of you! She’ll be punished severely. I won’t let this continue.”

“Whoa Whoa calm down. I can defend myself, mostly, from Erica. No need to break her arm again or something.”

She reached out and patted Derric reassuringly on the arm. But it didn’t appear to have the desired affect as she stiffened noticeably under her touch.

She was rushing to the window and Stiles called out,

“Wait! One more thing. We need to tell Lydia what is going on.”

She didn’t mention her dad just yet because baby steps, puppy’s first compromise and all that. 

The probability of Lydia already knowing what’s going on and just doesn’t know the name for it is like 100%. She is a genius after all.

Derric sat down lightly with one leg in and one leg out of the window sill,

“Yeah. We’ll tell her after this Jackson business is settled. No need to harm her further.”

Stiles was oddly moved by Derric’s seemingly genuine consideration but then suspicious,

“You consider her pack don’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t give a flying Kanima fart what happened to her.”

The red of her eyes shone in the darkness of Stiles’ room and she said,

“Only we have the ability to stop this without anyone else dying. Who knows if the Hunters will actually be able to stop him even with lethal force. It’s our job because of what we are. With great power comes great responsibility.”  
Stiles was speechless for ten whole seconds, a first in her short life and then babbled,  
“ You read Spiderman, like the new Miles Morales? Or just a fan of the Toby Maguire movies?”  
“Goodnight Stiles.”  
And then she was gone.

“Out of all the things you’ve ever said to me that was the most terrifying.”

She wasn’t sure if Derric had heard her but it was true.

Derric Hale being somewhat nice to her was frankly the weirdest thing to happen to her yet. And that was truly saying something.

She quickly threw the now clean sheets back on her bed and then folded up into a ball on top of it. Sleep would hopefully equal rest this time around and less pain. 

But it took longer than expected because she kept seeing that almost smirking red eyed face behind her eyes. Derric Hale was bad for a girl’s mental health, probably physical as well, of that much she was certain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles tries to keep everyone from being dumb and dying. Again. Oh and finally explains to Lydia why the hell she was assaulted and suddenly besieged by the ghost of a massive creeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a huge chapter I know. I warned all of you this fic is going to be about 50k. And there will be a sequel. You have been warned. But you know if you're enjoying it then yay! Giant update!

The next day she scouted around all the usually shifty scalper type kids at school that had all the drugs or all the bootleg DVDs of “The Amazing Spiderman” and found the tickets to the rave all sold out. 

 

When she went to lacrosse practice with Scott she informed him of her findings. Worryingly Jackson wasn’t at school and had missed morning lacrosse practice.  If he was skipping out on a chance to be lacrosse team’s star then whatever was controlling him still had him. So not good.

Scott made the surprisingly good but also terrifying mistake of telling Isaac they needed those tickets. Both of them watched him beat the crap out of some second string players to bring them tickets. It wasn’t the least bit magical.

Every one then grouped up and went out for practice. Stiles wasn’t the only girl out there either. 

The Cyclones had six female players, including Dani Mahealani who was first string, and were the only mixed gender lacrosse team in Northern California. It was mostly because Beacon Hills High had been an all girl’s catholic school before it became mixed gender when she and Scott were in the seventh grade.

So technically speaking it was a girl’s lacrosse team that became mixed gender when the school did. They had this really cute privacy curtain in the girl’s locker room for all the boys. 

Stiles might not have been first string but it was still good to get out there and run, dodge, and shove with the rest of the team. She used it almost like a meditative state to get out of her own head.

Although the sight of Derric Hale watching the lacrosse team practice from the shadows of the woods definitely threw her back in. 

Why did she always have to be there watching? What did she think was going to happen to them in the middle of the day on the lacrosse field besides a torn ACL?

She shuddered at the possibilities and suddenly didn’t really feel like playing around any more. Way to suck all the fun out of everything.

Annnnd she was so not about to think about Derric sucking anything because down that path lay madness. Madness and awkward arousal that werewolf senses could probably pick up on. 

That was the last thing she needed Derric to be holding over her head right now.

After practice Scott went off to work and she reminded him to get a Ketamine syringe from Doc Deaton for Jackson tonight. 

Things would go a lot worse if they couldn’t sedate him.

She spent the rest of the early evening pacing her room and alternating between thinking about what Harris could have had to do with it and Derric. 

Her hormone-addled brain was even worse than usual right now and she really wanted to stop playing that little strip tease she made Derric do for Dani over and over in her head.  Why did she have to be so toned why?

She smacked her head twice against her door frame but while there heard her Dad’s car pull up. Lacking a better distraction she ran down to meet him.

It would have been good to be making dinner instead of thinking about Derric Hale half naked. What was her life becoming?

But as soon as she met her Dad in the driveway she knew something was wrong. He wasn’t wearing his gun. Her heart jumped up into her throat.

“Dad?”   
“It’s only a temporary leave of absence. They said that you stealing the van and getting a restraining order didn’t reflect on me very well or the county.”   
“Did they say it was temporary?”   
“Well no.”   
She rushed forward and nearly tackled him,   
“I’m so sorry Dad.”   
He returned her hug fiercely,   
“It’s okay we’ll figure it out. We always do.”

Stiles felt a terrible wave of guilt settle over her shoulders as she looked up into his tired face. She had to tell him. 

He had gotten fired over her not explaining exactly why they had tried to lock Jackson up and why Jackson was being even more of a pain in the ass that usual.

“Dad. There’s something I haven’t told you. Well let’s be frank here there’s a lot of things I haven’t told you. But this one is uh big since, you know, you might have just lost your job over it.”   
“Am I going to have a sudden urge to ground you until your 21st Birthday?”   
“Probably that. Hopefully not the urge to actually lock me up somewhere with padded walls until then.”   
“Stiles what’s going on?”   
He was suddenly more serious than she had seen in a long time. She remembered that grave look and didn’t like it.   
“Uh let’s go inside and sit down first, this could take awhile.”

The good news was her dad believed her. He had seen the video footage of Peter Hale shifting and the claw marks of the Kanima and knew something was up. Something normal police work couldn’t explain. Also he knew Doc Deaton was hiding something.

The bad news was that he forbid Stiles from doing any thing more dangerous than sharpening a pencil. 

Maybe not even that if Scott’s story about Victoria Argent was to be heeded. 

That meant that in the next hour and a half she was going to have to sneak out to go to the warehouse district now that her Dad was on full alert. 

Otherwise the whole pack might be slaughtered and the master would get away again.

She so wasn’t going to be the Zander of this team.

So instead of taking her Jeep from its position down the street she set out on foot across town with a backpack full of burned mountain ash. 

Which Stiles had done her research on, as it turned out it was also known as Rowan wood when it was in tree form.

If Harry Potter had taught her anything it was that certain woods and other natural substances were imbued with magical properties. And Rowan wood was notoriously strong and good for protection.

Doc Deaton was probably some sort of wizard and now he was teaching her a little bit of magic.  

Time to check witchcraft in the column of things that actually exist. She almost felt like dancing at how cool that was. 

Then suddenly realized that made the history of Europe the early United States a whole lot creepier. The dancing stopped.

When she got to the party Scott, Erica, and Isaac were lurking in the shadows outside.   
“Jackson just showed up.”

Scott was bouncing nervously and both Erica and Isaac were now looking to her,

“Well then why didn’t you guys go in after him! He could be killing someone right now. Get in there!”

It was almost comical how fast they all stumbled and jumped all over each other to go in to the externally vibrating club.

Stiles was cringing and she didn’t even have supernaturally enhanced hearing, it must have been almost agonizing for the rest of them being new to werewolf powers and all.

Wasting no time she poked a hole in the bottom of the garbage bag of wood ash and started walking the perimeter. Stiles got all the way around the warehouse back to about fifty feet when she ran out of all but a handful of ash.

She immediately started panicking. Once again Scott was not answering his phone, Derric was nowhere in sight, and who knows what Doc Deaton was up to. Completely alone again and everyone was counting on her. 

This was as good a time as any to believe in something magical happening.

Taking a deep breath she glanced at the car to her left and read its bumper sticker “Imagination is more important than knowledge- Einstein.”

Well if that wasn’t a sign she didn’t know what was. 

And so she closed her eyes and felt the circle of ash connecting the binding and completing the circuit of protection. The last of the ash slipped through her fingers and she knew she had come up short.

But when her eyes snapped open the circle was complete. 

It worked! She was officially a witch or something! Score!

Maybe now she wouldn’t be deemed the sidekick any more.

Not that she had been before or anything. Oddly enough Derric, and the rest of her pack, seemed to have some respect for her. Go figure. 

Now that her end of the deal was done it was time to go in and see if her pups had cornered the lizard.

Sure enough Scott was nowhere to be seen but she did spot Allison dancing with creepy camera guy, what was his name? 

Matt something, did that stalker actually have a last name?  This was bad.

She spotted Isaac hauling Jackson in to one of the back rooms and bolted for them. Snaking in she found Erica and Isaac staring at Jackson unconscious on the chair.   
“Let’s see if he’s still awake.”   
Isaac gleefully approached with claws drawn and was smacked back by super strong meat puppet Jackson.   
“Okay. Nobody does that again.”

She crowded both of them behind her and glanced at Isaac’s arm that he was now cradling to his chest. 

She was going to make him get that looked at by someone other than creepy Doctor Derric, which apparently was the only one werewolf health insurance covered.

“Alright let’s try and talk to it.”   
“We’re all here.”   
“Well that’s not terrifying or anything.”

Certain passages of the New Testament came to mind. 

We are many, we are legion. 

But she wasn’t about to back down. This might be their only chance to find out who was controlling Jackson. 

Just then something felt like hot fingers brushing against her temples but it stopped almost immediately. It was like she had been poked in the eyebrow but no one here had done that so she brushed it off.

“Okay why are you going around killing all these people?”   
“They’re murderers! They have to pay for what they’ve done!”   
“Who did they murder?”   
“Me! They murdered me!”

And then Jackson started to get all big, green, and scaly. That was their cue to run.

     Stiles shoved Erica and Isaac out the door and all of them braced against it waiting for Jackson to try and bust out. He did, but not the door and then he was loose in the party, killing God knows whom.

There was nothing left they could do right now so Stiles pulled both of them along outside with her where she bounded across the line to Derric who was waiting there with an injured Boyd.

“What happened?”   
“There were hunters waiting here for us.”

Stiles was about to say something when she turned around and noticed that both Isaac and Erica were shying away from the ash ring. It was working! 

That meant that the Kanima and its master would be stuck inside. Along with a hundred drunk and possibly high teenagers. This was not such a good plan.

If only she had thought to make a circle around Jackson while he was out in the chair. Then he and the master would have been contained and no one else would have been hurt. Yeah that would have been a better plan. Right as she was about to beat herself up about it a howl pierced the thumping air. 

It was ragged and desperate and she knew at once who it was. Derric did too.

“Scott’s in danger! I have to go to him!”   
Derric made to move forward by stumbled back. 

There was a loud crack and Stiles felt that strange hand on her face again only this time instead of a poke it was tap with two fingers. 

It was the barrier letting her know when something was trying to cross it that shouldn’t be. She could feel intrusions. That was so mind bendingly cool.

All of them turned to her and she looked back stunned,   
“What?”   
“Lower the barrier Stiles otherwise I can’t get in.”   
“Oh.”

Well theoretically all she had to do was break the circuit right? It was just a closed electrical current made out of magic, and what was magic but energy. With a wave of her hand she broke the line and it blew away like eraser dust. 

Derric was gone and Erica and Isaac were crowding in around her and Boyd protectively.

“The Hunters will be back any minute. Now that the shield is down there’s nothing we can do to stop Jackson. We should leave.”

Boyd was right. They needed to get him to Deaton’s to get whatever the hunter’s did to those bullets out of his system. Otherwise there might be a re-enactment of Derric’s Civil War era, you have to cut off my arm, tactic.

Which, hell no. 

But she also didn’t have a car right now. Derric might kill her for taking her Camaro but she didn’t see Scott’s Mom’s car here so he must have walked as well.

Erica and Isaac made sure to tell her as much but they didn’t stop her from getting behind the wheel and driving them all to Beacon Hills Veterinary Clinic.  

When they pulled up another car she didn’t recognize was pulling out. The clinic was technically closed so that was strange. 

She made sure to write down the cars plates in her blackberry’s notes section. Inside Deaton looked after Boyd’s bullet wounds and Isaac’s arm and Stiles sat down in the waiting area so she didn’t collapse. 

Erica took a stance of leaning against the wall across from her and glared. Stiles was exhausted but she had had about enough of Erica’s bullshit and was about to tell her so when she spoke,

“You did a good job tonight Stiles. That wood ash trick was cool.”   
She raised an eyebrow at this,   
“Did Derric beat the crap out of you, threaten you, brainwash you, insert a Kardashian brain slug in to you? Because that’s the only way I can think of anyone getting you to be civil let alone complimentary to me.”   
She snorted and then slumped to the ground so she was actually seated lower than Stiles.   
“She just explained some things to me about how packs worked. You’re pack now. That’s all there is to it.”   
She was still not convinced but whatever. 

Now was not the time to get into a blow out with her, she had enough to worry about as it was. 

Just then a very scowly Derric stumbled in supporting all of Scott’s weight and Deaton rushed out to grab him. Neither of them looked good but Scott was definitely worse off.

“What happened!?”   
She rushed forward without thinking and reached for them both but all she got was a snarl from Derric for her troubles. 

She frowned but followed them into the operating room anyway. Deaton immediately began mixing several liquids in vials and dumping them into what looked like a vaporizer. He switched it on and the room was filled with a cool mist that smelled like pine, sage and salt water. 

Immediately Derric and Scott started coughing and gasping but that stopped after a few alarming breaths and both of them relaxed, their color returning from pale to normal. She turned to look at Doc Deaton and he shrugged and walked out to the waiting room. Then suddenly Derric was boxing her against the clinic’s back wall,

“Who told you that you could take my car?!”   
Uh oh.   
“Derric maybe you should calm down I mean you still don’t look so great after whatever just happened to you and Scott.”   
She slammed her fist into the wall above Stiles’ head and then appeared to wince slightly at it. Deaton creeped into her peripheral vision for a second then disappeared again.   
“Victoria fucking Argent decided to finally kill Scott and make it look like his asthma had finally done him in. She was vaporizing him with liquid wolfsbane when I got there.”   
“Jesus Christ.”   
“We both got dosed pretty badly because it was airborne and much more powerful.”   
She was about to say something when Derric cut her off,   
“Which was why I was displeased to find someone had stolen my car and left an ‘IOU’ note where it had been and I had to huff and wheeze my way to the clinic carrying Scott the whole way.”   
“Ooops?”   
Now would be a very bad time to make a “Three Little Pigs” joke. She refrained. Derric sighed heavily and went to go check on Scott who appeared to be sleeping peacefully on the operating table.   
“Boyd was bleeding pretty badly and Jackson pretty much broke Isaac’s wrist so I had to get them here somehow and I wasn’t about to piggy back them all the way here thank you very much.”   
Derric’s hazel eyes were unimpressed,   
“Don’t you have some junk heap you call a Jeep?”   
“I prefer to think of it as gently worn, like a favorite sweatshirt, or in your case leather jacket.”   
“Well then where was your gently worn piece of junk?”

She shifted uncomfortably and saw Derric’s hackles rise out of the corner of her eyes.

“I might have told my Dad about the furry problem in Beacon Hills and he might have forbid me from further sticking my nose it. But you know me, when you say jump I say hell no I’m running in the opposite direction to get a gun.”

Ah she was getting awfully familiar with the wall. She might have to buy it dinner after this. At least Derric wasn’t choking her this time.

“Stiles!”   
“What! He had pretty much figured it out anyway! He had already seen the security footage from the video store of Peter Hale shifting from the Alpha and back. He just didn’t know the extent of it. Now he does. Personally I think,”   
“I don’t fucking care what you think! The more people that know, the more danger you put our pack in Stiles! I thought you knew better than to do something so stupid. But I guess you’re just no better than any of the other children who think that this is just a game.”   
She was about to spit in her face but instead ground out,   
“Oh and you’re so mature and responsible! Did you forget that it was you who made over half these kids in to soldiers? I wonder why? Maybe because you knew no adult would ever follow orders from a sorry excuse for an Alpha like you!”   
Derric snarled and her features started to elongate in to that of a wolf. Stiles did cringe now and duck her head baring her throat. She hoped it was the right thing to do because she really didn’t want to die tonight. 

When nothing happened she cracked open an eyelid to see Derric’s glowing red eyes still boring into hers. 

She opened her mouth Derric’s hand shot out and covered it and suddenly she was nuzzling the hollow of her throat. Snuffling at it, and was that her tongue? It made Stiles jump, squeak her name, and scrabble at her shoulders. 

When she touched her it was like her hands burned because Derric stumbled back away from her wide-eyed and slightly panicked. 

They both were panting and looking at each other. Erica said something from the waiting room that she didn’t quite catch because it seemed to snap Derric out of whatever the hell had just happened between them because she barked,

“Shut up!”

And then went back to glaring at Stiles. She gulped and watched as her eyes followed the motion. 

That shiver was totally involuntary but it made Derric’s eyes go an even darker shade of red.

“So-“   
“Have Doctor Deaton give you and Scott a ride home.”   
And then she and the rest of the pack except for Stiles and Scott were gone. 

She tumbled out into lobby just to check but sure enough even Derric’s Camaro was gone from the parking lot.

“What in the name of Kibbles and Bits was that?”   
“You ground her but also annoy the ever living dickens out of her.”

She started at Deaton’s voice from behind her and whipped around to face him,

“But she said the grounding emotion for her wolf was anger.”   
“That might have been true. But anger is not the strongest emotion that can be used to control one's wolf form.”

She wanted ask so much more but it didn’t seem like the time being 2 AM and all.

Deaton complained about it but dropped them both off a half a block from Stiles’ house and she managed to wake Scott up enough to sneak him in through her window. 

It was not easy and by the time she had gotten them both in PJs and ready for bed it was almost a quarter ‘till four. 

She was almost asleep when two shapes blocked the light coming from the moon outside her window, then the flickering of another. 

Stiles bolted awake, jostling Scott who was half curled around her in his sleep.  It didn’t calm her nerves to see that her visitors were Erica, Isaac, and Boyd.

“What the in the name of sleep deprivation are you three doing here?”   
She was hissing it because she didn’t want to wake her dad but she knew they could hear her perfectly well.   
“We were restless. And your window was open?”   
Isaac said uncertainly, she huffed and threw her arms up,   
“And what? That’s an open invitation to keep me up even later? Go back to your creepy den or your houses I don’t care just shoo.”

They hesitated but then started to climb out the window except Boyd who turned around and said,

“Please Stiles. We feel safe here.”   
She looked at all three of their saddest puppy dog eyes and dragged her hand across her face grumbling,   
“Fine but I’m not getting out of bed to get you sleeping bags. They’re in the closet above the talking Batman helmet.”

But instead of going to the closet all three of them started to strip off layers of clothing and dog pile on to her bed.

“Hey what the heck are you doing!? There’s no way we can all fit! Ow who just elbowed me in the tit!?”

Isaac mumbled a muffled ‘sorry’ from on top of her stomach as Erica settled behind her letting Stiles rest her head back on her chest, Scott was still curled up on her right and now Boyd was on her left. 

She was trapped in a cage of cuddle werewolf and was suddenly aware of how warm all of them were compared to her. 

Her clothes were going to be so gross when she woke up. 

Her alarm went off exactly at 7:15 but she had to flail and wiggle her arm out in order to stop it because she was still trapped in a nest of heavily sleeping teenage werewolves. Sighing she turned her head and would have jumped if she wasn’t being smothered. 

Derric was leaning against her windowsill and had presumably been watching all of them sleep. Which was actually not the creepiest thing she had ever done.

“Do you mind explaining to me why I am under a giant mound of sleeping werewolf? Cause it’s sweaty as balls in here and I need to get ready for school.”   
Derric raised a thick eyebrow but simply shrugged,   
“All how it’s supposed to be.”   
“Okay Lycan Yoda but what the hell does that actually mean?”   
Derric pushed away from the window and came to loom over her on the bed,   
“You are a calming force for them. They see you as safe because you aren’t a physical threat to them but will protect them from others.”   
“In other words I’m a werewolf den mommy?”   
She huffed what could have been taken for a laugh and almost smirked,   
“You could refer to yourself as that if you wanted I guess.”   
“Hmmm I’ll have to add some mom and cub jokes to my repertoire in the future.”

Derric shook her head but sat on the edge of the bed between Isaac’s feet. The bed made an alarming groan but didn’t snap.

Good thing too because she would have had a really hard time explaining that to her dad, because ‘werewolves broke it’ would probably go over really badly.

“So if I’m the pack Mom does that mean I get to mother you too?”   
“Stiles.”   
Derric looked so tired she didn’t quite have the heart to tease her right now. So instead she said,   
“Just because you’re Alpha doesn’t mean I’m going to let you go all ‘I work alone’ and get yourself killed.”   
Derric’s head snapped to her and their eyes met and locked. This was something she wouldn’t show weakness on,   
“You know you couldn’t stop me if that was what needed to be done.”   
“And you know I would still fucking try.”   
She watched as Derric ducked her head in assent and counted it as a minor victory.   
“But just because you’re acting second in command doesn’t mean that I still can’t order you not to do something. That is what second means, after me.”

She rolled her eyes and grinned like the Cheshire cat,

“Aw but we both know how well I listen. In one ear and out the-”   
Instantly Derric on top of her, her forehead almost touching hers,   
“You will not do anything unnecessarily dangerous. You are a part of this pack and I won’t let anything happen to you. Even if I have to lock you up to make certain you won’t.”   
She fought the urge to swallow loudly but her voice was suddenly paper thin,   
“Is that a threat? Because I’ve seen your torture dungeon and although I appreciate the offer I’m less of a chains girl and more into leather personally.”   
Derric did smile this time but it was not at all friendly. In fact it looked more like she was going to eat Stiles, and not in the fun way.   
“No that is a promise. Also kinky isn’t really my thing. It loses its appeal when you’ve actually been tortured in chains on a wrack.”

She flinches but Derric doesn’t back away at her discomfort instead she presses their foreheads together and breathes her in. One breath, two breath, three and suddenly Derric’s shifting her body weight so she can nuzzle against the side of her face, then pressed her nose into Stiles’ bed head. 

Derric’s hands are following her nose and scraping gently against her scalp. It’s mesmerizing and almost puts her back to sleep before she is jerked out of it by the sound of loud knocking on her door,

“Stiles are you awake? You want breakfast?”   
Her dad called through the door. Thank God for the small graces of being a teenaged girl.   
“Yeah I’m up. I’ll be down in fifteen no need to strain yourself to cook I’ll just take a poptart on the way out.”   
Her Dad grumbled ‘okay’ through the door and she waited for his footsteps on the bottom step before she turned back to glare at Derric. 

But what she saw made her gasp. Her eyes were almost entirely blown black with pupil and she was breathing in shallow gasps.

“Oh my God I’m like catnip for werewolves. I’m werewolf nip.”   
Derric tried to shake herself but she was still staring into Stiles’ eyes.   
“Not quite. It’s more complicated than that.”   
“She wants to mate with you.”

Erica was the first one of the cubs up and stretched as she grinned over Stiles’ shoulder at Derric who growled low and fiercely at her to ‘shut the hell up.’

She simply shrugged and got up to stretch before grinning and bounding out the window. Boyd and Isaac had felt her leave and were now making to get out of Stiles’ bed as well.

It was just Scott who was still dead to the world. 

It would probably be a good idea to tell her Dad that Scott was here and then he could let Scott’s mom know because she was in all likelihood freaking out right now.

Stiles shifted her weight and swept past a very confused looking Derric before going into her bathroom to take the world’s quickest shower, because no way was she going to school smelling like six different people’s B.O. 

That was just nasty. 

Upon exiting the shower she found Derric gone and Scott still asleep on her bed sighing she got dressed and stomped downstairs to find the kitchen suspiciously smoky,

“Dad what did I say about trying to cook anything?”   
“Not to?”   
“Yeah pretty much that. Don’t put it under cold water! Jeez do you want to start a grease fire?”   
She took the pan of burnt eggs out of his hands, set it on a coaster on the kitchen counter, and put two Poptarts in the toaster. Her Dad simply smiled sheepishly at her over his coffee mug and went back to reading the Beacon Hills Gazette.  She cleared her throat and when he looked up she was the one looking a bit cowed,   
“Um Dad so Scott got into some trouble of the shape shifting persuasion last night and totally ended up crashing on my bed so if you could let him sleep a little bit longer and tell his mom where he is that would be great, love you, bye.”

It came out all in one rushed sentence as she grabbed her Poptart, kissed his cheek, and started to run for the door.

“Geraldine Prudence Stillinski.”

She stopped dead in her tracks right inside the front hallway. 

Everyone knows when a parent uses your full name it means you are dead meat. Probably even worse than dead meat, probably permanently grounded dead meat.

“Dad I really have to go to sch-“   
“You really have to do nothing but come back here and tell me what’s going on so I can decide whether or not to take away your computer privileges even if you do need it for school.”

She shrunk back towards the kitchen and tried to make herself seem smaller than her five foot eight inches.

“Scott was attacked by Victoria Argent last night and she almost killed him with wolfsbane to make it look like an asthma attack and Derric saved him and brought him here because she knew he would be safe with me.”

Her Dad’s face shifted through several emotions; anger, to concern, to frustration, and back around again,

“They can’t get away with this! You’re just kids even if you have these abilities.”   
She nodded and placed her hand on his arm comfortingly,   
“To be honest I’m pretty sure the only Argents that aren’t homicidal assholes are Allison’s dad and Allison. The rest of her family is terrifying. You know about Kate right? She seduced 17 year old Derric in order to get her to let her in to their family’s compound so she could burn all of them alive.”    
Allison was staring awkwardly at Derric and every one in room seemed tense. Stiles didn’t have time to baby anyone on this though so she muttered,    
“Yeah. Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy she’s dead.”   
Her Dad deflated and leaned back against the wooden kitchen chair,   
“There’s nothing I can do about it any more other than go over there with a shotgun myself and that would probably be a bad idea. I’ve seen the inside of Chris’s garage.”   
She bent down and hugged him tight,   
“It sucks feeling helpless, believe me I know. But I promise that everything I know about what’s going on I will tell you about. And if you want you can help. Did you know that humans can be part of the pack too? Allison and I are and if you want I bet you could be too.”   
He looked slightly sad and then patted her back, getting her to let go,   
“I know our tiny family has been pretty good at looking out for each other so far but it seems like you might have found one that is even better at being scrappy and helping each other out so don’t let me stop you from having it.”   
“Dad. That’s not what...... I mean..... I love you.”   
“ We’re still trying to figure stuff out, it’s not perfect, I mean Scott’s a part of it so it’s bound to be a bit fail-y sometimes.”   
He laughed pushed her gently towards the door,   
“Go. You’ll be late for first period. And Stiles? Next time something like this happens just tell me okay?”

She didn’t trust her voice to be steady enough so instead she just nodded emphatically and headed out the door.

She did manage to make first period English on time and actually pay some semblance of attention to the class discussion on “The Grapes of Wrath.” 

Which she had read three years ago and hated, there was an entire chapter about a metaphorical turtle and some really creepy treatment of female characters especially Rose of Sharon.

But she kept her mouth shut, she was so not awake enough to try and explain feminist theory to a bunch of high school sophomores.

After class she ran in to Allison in the hallway and noticed that she hadn’t got much sleep either if the bags under her eyes were any clue. 

Also she looked wrecked. When she tried to go talk to her Allison avoided her and told her to leave her alone. 

She knew that she mostly hung out with her because of Scott but that was just plain mean.

Slightly wounded Stiles instead sought out Lydia. There was another person that needed to be told about Beacon Hills not so well kept werewolf secret immediately. 

She found her at her locker but as soon as she opened her mouth to say something Lydia slammed her locker in her face and said,

“Not now Stillinski. I don’t have time for you.”   
She most definitely deserved that after one, leaving her to bleed out on the lacrosse field after Peter Hale mauled her, and two for ditching her while she was crying in her car.    
But she still needed Lydia to know even if she hated her now and afterwards.   
“Actually I was going ask if maybe we could hang out today after class and talk about some of the weird shit that’s been going on around here. Well if you don’t want to talk you can listen to me tell the truth or if you want to tell me your side of things we can do that. And there will most definitely be ice cream and a John Hughes movie afterwards.”

Lydia simply blinked at her several times and said briskly,

“Stillinski if this is a desperate attempt to get an invite to my Birthday party then it is pathetic.”

“What no. I didn’t even know it was your Birthday, I mean that you were having a party, what I meant was that was not my intention no.”

Lydia stared at her blankly and then started to walk primly off towards class calling after her,

“4 p.m. and we meet at my house. Yours is too...homey. You better not be fucking with me Stillinski otherwise I will rip your ovaries out through your nose. See you later.”

It was only now that she realized she was attracted to constant threats of danger and terrifying women. Her life suddenly made so much more sense.  

She spent the rest of the day trying to avoid any sort of conflict that would cause her to miss her explaining things date with Lydia. Because it wasn’t a date date or anything. It was a; “I’m sorry I was an asshole and didn’t tell you that you were mauled by a werewolf and your boyfriend is a lizard thing that’s killing people all over town. Yeah,” kind of date.

At lunch she sat down at a table by herself and suddenly found she was surrounded by cubs. 

Erica, Isaac, and Boyd then proceeded to talk about how excited they were for their first full moon in two days and she promptly spit out her suspect mashed potatoes.

“The full moon is in two days?”   
They all turned to look at her like she was super later to the party,   
“Uh yeah. That’s only what we’ve been talking about for the last ten minutes.”   
Isaac looked curious as to why her eyeballs were suddenly falling out of her head.   
“Oh this is so not good. Lydia’s birthday party is in two days and if I had to guess that would be when the Kanima will kill again. And you lot will all be chained to a wall somewhere so Derric can stop you from killing baby goats and actual babies. Which leaves me, and possibly Scott if he and Allison aren’t on the rocks. Fuck.”   
They all looked suddenly uneasy,   
“Isn’t Derric going to show us how to control our transformations? Then we’ll be able to help.”   
She shook her head so hard it looked to be coming undone,   
“No because Derric thinks the only way to control your wolf is with rage which as it turns out is bad for you. Do you want to end up as socially graceful as Derric?”   
All three of them looked at each other and Isaac shrugged but Boyd spoke up,   
“No not really. What else should we use to control our transformation?”   
“Well Scott uses his love for Allison. Which is apparently a very strong urge to protect someone. It has to be a super strong emotion, something all encompassing almost single minded in its mission. I mean Scott is pretty single minded about Allison, which might be why he’s failing three classes. You get the idea.”   
Boyd appears to be thinking really hard before he continued,   
“I have a little brother who’s ten. He looks up to me even though until I took the bite there wasn’t much to look up to. When I think about how he sees me I feel strong. Like a superhero or something. Would wanting to make him proud protecting him be enough?”   
She beamed at him. 

That was exactly why Boyd was Derric’s only good choice for the bite. Jackson was a terrible idea, so were Erica and Isaac but what’s done is done. They were all in this together whether they liked each other or not.

And weirdly enough everyone seemed to suddenly really like her and trust her opinions. It might have been the fact that they had spent last night snuggled up to her sides practically purring. Werewolves were so weird.

She looked expectantly towards Isaac and Erica and Isaac appeared to hit on something because his face lit up,

“I feel really content when I eat red meat, can I use that?”   
She glared at him flatly,   
“Uh no probably not.”   
Erica looked left and right and then said in a low voice,   
“Alright losers this doesn’t leave the table but when I read my first ‘Batgirl’ comic in elementary school I felt like I had finally found a world where I could be a hero. After that comics were my only escape from the bullying and whenever I think or talk about them I remember what it feels like to be free.”   
No one says anything but Stiles snakes her hand across the table and grabs Erica’s hard.   
“Me too.”

And suddenly everyone had a hand or a foot or thigh against everyone else at the table. 

So this is what pack meant now. And if they managed to work everything else out Lydia and Jackson would be a part of it too.

    It was brilliant and also scary to mean this much to other people. But she supposed this was just what growing up was like. 

Except she was growing up with werewolves instead of normal teenage dating and grades related angst.

Lunch finished and she breezed through afternoon classes and as she was making her way to her Jeep in the parking lot she stopped dead in her tracks. The car with the Einstein bumper sticker was parked in the teacher’s parking spots. The same car from last night. 

She would bet her completed copy of Pokemon Yellow that the car belonged to the cringe-worthy Mr. Harris. 

She took a picture of the car with her phone and vowed to look up who the plates belonged to as soon as she got home. She was already 99% sure that if Harris wasn’t the Kanima’s master he was involved somehow. 

The dude was just around too much and too Bates Motel not to be. As she was unlocking her Jeep she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and suddenly found herself flipped around and being crushed against the wheel well.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Derric was smashing her into things. Just another day in the life.

“Um getting into my car? Sometimes I swear that wolf’s blood actually dulls you guy’s sense of sight in favor of sound and smell.”   
She snarled and pushed her a little bit harder, it was almost painful and now she was slightly alarmed.   
“I thought we agreed that we didn’t bring Lydia into the fold until Jackson was no longer a Kanima.”   
She frowned,   
“Yeah but the full moon is in two days, if she’s suffering any sort of weird effects from the bite then that will be when it happens. Also it’s her Birthday party so it would be a prime place for Jackson to show up a murder a bunch of High Schoolers. I’m trying to protect her!”

She took a deep breath through her nose and looked away from Stiles for a moment before turning back and glaring with even more intensity,

“Be careful.”

And then she was taking off around various cars weaving her way back towards the woods. 

Seriously how did no one notice that? Looking at her phone she let out a string of curses she was going to be late to Lydia’s unless she sped all the way there. Stupid Derric with her stupid control issues and her stupid scowl and stupid piercing blue eyes. Time to think of something else. But suddenly Erica’s teasing came back from this morning and the words that had been distorted at the clinic came ringing back as clear as if she had just heard them,

“Awww are Mommy and Daddy fighting? Ewww gross looks like they’re making up.”

When she had a minute to actually process this she might be slightly alarmed if a little bit excited. But now was not the time for playing house fantasies yeesh. 

She whipped the Jeep into Lydia’s driveway and hopped out to bound, out of breath, up the steps to see Lydia open the door and glare at her slumped there panting balefully.

“You’re two minutes late.”   
“Are you, ah going to, uh shut the door, in my face?”

She looked like she was considering it but instead just sighed long-sufferingly and let Stiles in. 

Lydia’s house was as beautiful, clean, and expensive looking as she had remembered it being from when she came to visit her after the video store incident. She led them to the large cream wrap around couch in the living room where she sat down heavily and motioned for her to do the same. 

But seriously that was a bad idea, who bought a white couch? 

Someone who could afford to buy a new one every time someone got jam or coffee on it that’s who.  

They stared at each other and neither seemed to be the one who wanted to speak first so Stiles took a deep breath and started at her usual manic clip of spilling the beans. 

She began with Scott’s bite and thinking that Derric was the evil werewolf. Then explaining the Hunters. Then explaining what actually happened in the Hale house fire, and finally to the part that affected Lydia.

When Peter Hale had attacked the video store and she had seen the Alpha and later when he bit her in the field. She explained that Lydia was immune to the bite and apparently Kanima venom. And then she had to explain what that was and all the events that had been happening recently.

Lydia didn’t ask questions, she simply sat there and listened to Stiles’ ridiculously long-winded explanation. When she finished they both sat there in silence till she cleared her throat and said,

“May I go get a glass of water please?”

Lydia waved her off absently towards the kitchen but still didn’t say anything. 

Given, it was a lot to process, but at least her Dad had asked questions and interjected with things that he knew that pertained to all the stuff she had been talking about but Lydia had been completely silent. Almost numb to it.

After drinking several glasses of water she turned around to go back to living room and almost jumped out of her skin to find Lydia staring standing directly behind her.   
“Um?”   
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t Allison? Or anybody who knew because there are quite a few of you aren’t there? Even Jackson knew!”   
“Well at first it was to protect you but then you were bitten and when you didn’t turn or die Derric got concerned that you might be the Kanima and-“   
“No you don’t understand! I thought I had been slowly losing my mind. Everyone treated me like I’m too stupid or fragile to get it. When what they didn’t realize, or you didn’t realize is that the ghost or something of Peter fucking Hale has been scaring me witless since the hospital.”   
Stiles blinked at that. Okay that was not entirely expected.   
“What did he say exactly?”

Lydia screamed in frustration and stomped out of the kitchen. Stiles followed her and almost fell head first over top of her because she had stopped dead in the hall between the kitchen and the living room.

“There has to be a logical explanation, a scientific one, and yet the logical explanation is that I’m losing my mind. Which can’t be happening because I’m far too clever for that.”   
“I’ve literally spent all my free time chemically testing the water, the heating and cooling ducts, the food at my house and the school. Every substance I am in contact with on a daily basis searching for known and unknown psychotropic and hallucinogenic materials.”   
“But the tests results have come back negative except that one time I found valium in my mother’s workout smoothies but yuck. So that either means that something that has yet to be explained by science is happening or I’m losing my mind. And I am not losing my mind.”

Stiles wasn’t sure that any one else besides her could talk that fast but Lydia had just proved her wrong. But after processing that she said,

“You know my mom was a particle physicist at Humboldt State who was looking into weakly interacting massive particles, things that existed but were able to pass through other particles without affecting them. So it’s possible we just don’t understand what kind of energy ghosts and stuff are made out of.”   
“I didn’t know your mother was Julia Stilinski. She was a brilliant physicist Stiles. Doctor Stilinski was one of my favorite authors to read on dark matter and dark energy theory when I was little.”   
Stiles swallowed and then put on a comforting smile,   
“I never could read her theory but she always couched explaining stuff in the form of Doctor Who analogies so I understood a little of what she was talking about. It’s only Timey Wimey loose quarks.”

Lydia let out a soft laugh and then a sob and hugged her. She held her back. It seemed like the only thing left she could do to comfort her. And it wasn’t nearly enough but it seemed to be helping a little bit.

They stayed like that for a couple minutes before Stiles maneuvered them to the couch to sit down with Lydia’s back to her front so she could rub her shoulders and brush her hair with her fingers soothingly.

“He says I’m immune to the bite. That’s why I was his backup plan if Derric killed him.”   
She nodded expectantly but then realized she couldn’t see her so she said,   
“Did he say what he wanted you to do?”   
“Bring him back.”   
She shivered,   
“If you feel like talking about it I can listen as long as you want.”   
She sighed,   
“I haven’t told anyone about it this entire time even though I’ve been trying to tell Allison for weeks. I’m not sure what to say any more except it’s terrifying and I feel helpless and I just want to scream but I have to keep smiling and pretending I’m not the town whack job.”   
“ Frankly I’m more stressed out here than when I was anonymously submitting mathematical theory papers to journals in middle school.”   
“I’m sorry.”   
“You better fucking be. And you’re still not forgiven but thanks for explaining what you should have explained to me in the hospital a month ago.”   
She hugged her once and then moved out from behind her before sitting next to her and looking sideways at her,   
“If he contacts you again you come straight to me okay. I’ll tell the pack you’re in on Beacon Hills Werewolf watch 2012 and they’ll treat you as one of us. And if you want you can be part it as well. You’re welcome always.”   
“Thanks Stiles.”   
“Also hey if it makes you feel better I’m human and pretty normal and everyone in the pack treats me with respect. In fact you and Allison are way cooler, what with her Legolas-like archery and your Tony Stark levels of genius. Oh I guess I can do a little bit of magic but only with wood ash so yeah.”   
She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and she smiled sheepishly in return,   
“Okay so technically you’re also magic only like a medium, which I’ve been reading up on and communing with the dead is very important. You know when they’re not murdering, psychopathic, abusers who want you to resurrect them.”   
She rolled her eyes but Stiles forged ahead anyway,   
“We should go talk to Doc Deaton because maybe there’s a way to uh exercise Beetlejuice or protect you against him messing with your mind. Important bit here is protection.”

Lydia did smile a little tight half smile then. Stiles returned it with a full on grin.

“The full moon is in two nights and Spring break just started. Do you want to maybe meet up tomorrow some time to go visit the clinic or will you be busy?”   
“Um Stiles?”   
“Yes?”   
“Can I, not that I need your protection or like you even could, but can I stay over at your place tonight. He always comes at night or when I am alone.”   
“Sure. Of course! Whatever you need. I know I’ve said that before and let you down but I meant it and I still mean it.”

She nodded stiffly then motioned for her to follow her upstairs to her bedroom where she proceeded to pack nearly everything she owned in to three overnight bags. It was almost like she never wanted to come back. Stiles helped as best she could, not daring to offer any advice on to what she should and shouldn’t pack and how much was too much stuff. Just because she wasn’t a girly girl didn’t mean she didn’t respect Lydia’s rather formidable shoe collection. 

Together they managed to haul everything to the Jeep before the sunset and make it back to the Stillinski place. She promptly informed her dad Lydia was sleeping over. 

He looked suspicious for a minute because he knew that Stiles had a supernova sized torch blazing for her but then let it slide because she had explained before what had happened to Lydia and just like her mom, her dad actually cared what happened to Stiles’ friends just as much as Stiles did.

    And so he ordered them a pizza while Stiles set up a sleeping bag on her floor for herself because she was a gentleman and was giving Lydia her bed. They did end up watching “Ten Things I Hate About You” because Lydia’s comfort food movies were a decade later than the ones Stiles went for.

She was asleep when a frantic shaking woke her. Lydia was staring at her wild-eyed and was mouthing help over and over again.

“Gah! What is it? What’s going on?”   
“I saw him again. This time was different. He…. Don’t make me say it.”   
“Lydia.”   
She held her as she shook and sobbed.    
This was so wrong. 

How long had she cried herself to sleep after being violated by Peter fucking Hale in her nightmares? Why did she let Scott, Allison, and Derric of all people convince her that it was necessary to keep Lydia in the dark?

What good did it do? It didn’t, that was the answer.   
    It scrambled Lydia’s head and possibly scarred her for life. All so what? Everyone could pretend they had things under control?

This had gone from shit sixteen year olds should be expected to handle, to shit no one should be expected to handle about two hours into the whole mess with Scott being bitten.

“Lydia I have a feeling if we get in my Jeep and go over to the clinic Doc Deaton will be there and he will have some way to ward off your sickening Jacob Marley.”   
She sniffed and clung tighter,   
“Can we wait till sunrise? I don’t want to go outside tonight.”   
“Yeah.”

And so they both curled up facing each other in Stiles’ double bed and tried to sleep without very much luck. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Stiles’ alarm clock jerked them both awake at seven and she groaned. It was Spring break and they had the rest of the week off she did not need to be up this early. 

She looked down her chest to find Lydia octopus armed around it and remembered they had a lot of damage control to do today. She was going to figure out some way to shield her from Peter and possibly banish him forever.

Then rip Derric a new one for not burying Peter like she had Laura. She had a feeling it was a respectful burial that, like lots of things, had its root in necessity.

And Derric had simply forgone it to spit on a corpse forgetting that without it a vengeful ghost or something would return to ruin things for the still breathing. 

Fictional wizard Harry Dresden had once said that fences around graveyards weren’t built to keep people out but to keep what was buried there in.

Yeah they were going to have a really yell-y pack meeting later.   
With everyone.   
No skipping for Lydia, or even Allison. They were pack. Just the same as Stiles was. 

No denying that their presence was mandatory and desperately needed. 

She also wanted some other voices to help balance out the stupid. 

This morning her dad decided not to burn the house to the ground and had made them instant oatmeal. She smiled at the effort and gave him a big hug promising to tell him everything when she got back from the veterinary clinic, he had offered to come along, but she had politely turned him down. 

Stiles turned him down gently for Lydia’s sake. It was going to be hard enough for her to tell Doc Deaton about Peter let alone have another male authority figure there to listen as well. As much as she loved her dad, and knew he was the best kind of dude, he was still a dude. 

There were some things you didn’t want to talk about in front of anyone, let alone the male former sheriff of Beacon Hills. An assault was one of them. Unfortunately you had to if you wanted to see justice. 

But that was in the human courts and Peter Hale was not human. 

Because let’s be honest Lydia was assaulted whereas Scott was attacked. Neither one was better or worse than the other but they came with different sorts of trauma. 

Which made her briefly wonder if Scott needed to talk to someone besides Allison about what happened to him or if that was enough. 

Why didn’t anyone stop to consider how messed up all of them were going to be as adults because of this. Derric included.

Because although she was 23, she was still as emotionally stunted as she been when her entire family had burned to death six years ago. 

Peter Hale had said the person he was before the fire died that day. She was pretty sure it was the opposite with Derric. She had refused to grow, at least emotionally, since the fire. She was the same miserable, headstrong, guilt-ridden, seventeen year-old she had been then.

They arrived at the clinic right after it opened at nine and went inside to find the lobby empty. Stiles called out for him and the good doctor poked his head out from the back kennels and yelled,

“I’ll be out in a minute. Have a seat.”

She nodded and motioned for Lydia to sit down. She simply rolled her eyes and stood by the door, hugging her shoulders and tapping her Gucci clad feet in a nervous staccato.

When Deaton saw Lydia he looked concerned and ushered them back into his office.

“What can I do for you ladies today? Is Prada doing alright since the bee sting?”   
Lydia smiled tightly and said,   
“Yup. Made a full recovery and is just as annoying and jittery as ever.”   
He nodded and then looked at Stiles gravely,   
“This is pack business is it not?”   
She felt so official all of sudden and sat up straighter,   
“Yes. We might have a very big problem. Even bigger than the Kanima. Peter Hale is contacting Lydia from the grave trying to get her to be the Ginny Weasley to his Voldemort.”   
He raised an eyebrow and said,   
“You know it was actually Wormtail who resurrected Voldemort during the Triwizard tournament right?”   
“Yeah but he contacted Ginny and tried to get her to release the Basilisk and lure Harry to his death which I’m thinking is the ultimate goal. Because if Peter can somehow come back and then kill Derric he’ll be Alpha again and right where he wanted to be before he kicked it.”   
He smiled ruefully and turned to Lydia,   
“How long has he been haunting you.”   
She stiffened and said neutrally,   
“Since I woke up in the hospital.”   
Both of them cringed and then Deaton continued,   
“I need you to tell me everything you can remember happening and all the things he’s said to you. I don’t ask out of curiosity but it is extremely important in stopping him.”   
She nodded mechanically and shot out a hand to grab Stiles in a crushing grip as she recounted everything that she had already told to Stiles, plus parts of the dream from last night that she hadn’t yet divulged. 

It was typical that the dream started with her in shower. But then in diverged in to her in her winter formal dress standing alone on the lacrosse field surrounded by cheering classmates and parents as he stalked across the field towards her. Everyone was so excited as he dragged her to the ground except  for the screaming and crying woman in the stands,

“I can’t help but feel like she was trapped in the nightmare as much as I was. I had never seen her before even though I knew everyone else from school in the crowd. But she did look familiar kind of like...”   
“Derric and Peter?”   
Stiles snapped to look at him,   
“You think she saw the ghost of Laura Hale as well?”   
Deaton sighed,   
“We’re dealing with earthbound spirits here. Souls that have suffered a traumatic death and have unfinished business. Laura fits that bill and very well might be trapped by Peter as well.”   
“So what do we do? How should we have buried Peter to make sure this didn’t happen? Or is it a matter of horcruxes and we need to destroy whatever is allowing him to come back from the dead?”   
Lydia took a sharp breath and Stiles back peddled,   
“Whoa I didn’t mean it like that. You’re not his anchor to this world but simply someone he can get ahold of, kind of like a really terrible long distance call. Right?”   
The Doctor nodded and looked at Stiles curiously before turning back to Lydia,   
“There are several things we can do but the first will be to cut off his connection to you and give you the power to stop any encounter he tries to initiate.”   
“This will involve warding your house to make it a safe place, or wherever you’re staying. I can give you some mountain ash for that and some sage for purifying the house. The next step is actually creating a shield for yourself which we can do several different ways.”   
“The first is picturing yourself surrounded by a bright impenetrable golden light that nothing bad can touch you through. Keep building it up in your mind, making it shimmer and fluctuate outwards to repel anything evil in your vicinity. It’s all about will, if you believe you will be protected then your shield will protect you. “   
“Another more solid way to do this is the ward. Something, an object you carry with you. You will often see people wear a metal cross and clutch it when they feel threatened. It’s the same principle. Metals and gemstones hold protective energy of their own and take in energy and hold it for a long time. This is why certain antiques are said to hold emotions, feelings of their previous owners, and why buying used furniture and household items can actually be dangerous.”   
Lydia looked like she was having a hard time processing all of this so Stiles asked the question instead,   
“What if none of that works? What if Peter is too much of final boss for that? Is there some way to make him leave her alone for good?”   
“There are rituals but they take time and various materials to prepare. The full moon is tomorrow night. We don’t have time to do anything complicated and laborious.  We’ll do the best with what we’ve got.   
“What if it’s not enough? What if still comes for me?”   
“Lydia do you have someone close to you, who you’ve loved and has loved you, that has passed on?”   
She looked thoughtful and then miserable,   
“No. My mother’s parents died before I was old enough to know them and my Dad’s family lives in Sweden. I’ve never met any of them. No one I know has died.”   
“Then you’re truly lucky but you can’t call out to them in a time of need.”   
She deflated and Stiles piped up,   
“What about Laura? She’s already been in Lydia’s dreams what if she actually made contact and they joined forces like Casper and Wendy and beat the big bad together?”   
Deaton shook his head,   
“Laura could be of some help but she also appears to be caged by Peter. It might be possible for her to help in some way but not as a protecting spirit.”   
“Then we won’t let it get to that point! We’ll banish his ass before he can try anything else.”   
“That might not be immediately possible so to start, Lydia do you own a piece of jewelry that you carry with you at all times? Or some other object you keep close?”   
She reached down the front of her tailored jacket and pulled out a necklace with a gold-plated molecule charm on it. Stiles didn’t recognize the structure and when Lydia caught her staring she smiled and said,   
“It’s the molecular makeup of gold. I thought it was ironic and all the kids at school think it’s just some intricate lattice work pattern that’s the latest in Prague.”   
She grinned back at her. Deaton tutted over it for a few seconds before pulling out a bowl with large chunks of sea salt in it and laying it in the center,   
“Sea salt is an energy neutralizer it removes negative energy, really any non-neutral energy, from an object or consecrated space. Next we’ll dip it in sandalwood oil and then infuse it with protective energy.”   
He dipped it in a small soy sauce dish full of strong and woodsy smelling oil and then holding it by the chain placed it in the center of his desk. He motioned for each of them to place their hands over it,   
“Now I need you to picture only positive protective energy going into this necklace, a barrier that repels any negative emotion or force, that literally drives it away, makes it painful for it to be in its presence. We are effectively making a talisman. Humans have been making them since the beginning of time. Objects of power are useful for many purposes but the first one they were made for was not war, but protection. The will to shield others is strong in humans and it can be used to protect us from things that would very much like to destroy us.”

Lydia hesitated but closed her eyes and hummed lowly. 

Stiles did the same, envisioning positive energy; smiling, laughter, the sunlight, warmth, hugs, comfort, her mother telling her stories and brushing her hair, her dad attempting to cook and all three of them cleaning it up, and then a wall of light that pulsed and danced with all of this enveloping Lydia. Driving back the darkness inside her as well as out. Pushing back the inky black tendrils she could now feel Peter Hale has sunk into her.

Holy God she could feel it.

She couldn’t comprehend how Lydia wasn’t a blubbering mess; it felt like the skin on the back of her neck was constantly being peeled back and doused with muddy water filled with swamp grass and black beetles.

She latched onto that feeling of abject terror and wrenched it off of her. 

It was like lighting off a cherry bomb right next to her head. 

The light and ensuing crack of blood red behind her eyes hurt like the worst lacrosse hit she’d ever taken and then the skin crawling, violating feeling was so strong it made her gag.

She pushed back against it hard as she could. Visualizing holding the necklace up to this sickening black force and pushing it back, repelling it as far away from them as possible. And poured the rest of the light she could muster into the necklace making it glow and sing and practically dance with happy vibes.

Exhausted she opened her eyes slowly, like rising from one of those weird three-hour naps that was too short and too long at the same time.

Both Deaton and Lydia were staring at her like she had a second head that looked like Jackson when he was more cold-blooded than usual. Clearing her suddenly raw throat she sat up from the slump she had somehow deteriorated into.

“Do I even want to know what that looked like to you guys?”   
Lydia’s eyes were so wide you could see the sclera all the way around,   
“Stiles it was like diffuse reflection on a hot road in the summer time. The light in the air was bending around you, undulating and then it snapped like some one airing out a sheet.”   
Deaton nodded and said,   
“That was really quite impressive. What did you picture that made the energy that strong?”   
She shrugged wearily,   
“I dunno, happy thoughts? Sun, smiling, laughing, being hugged, normal stuff that’s good and safe and comfortable. And then I ran into whatever hooks Peter had in her and ripped them out for now.”   
Lydia froze,   
“I don’t feel that sick bile feeling in the back of throat any more. I had gotten used to it because it had been there day in and day out since the attack but it’s gone now.”   
Deaton whipped around and glared at Stiles,   
“You shouldn’t have done that by yourself. That was extremely dangerous, as we know Peter Hale is a very strong negative spirit. He could have latched on to you as well and who knows what would have happened.”   
“Also this kind of thing is like any kind of exercise. You have to build up muscle and endurance to do it and what you just did was a dead man sprint for your life. You’re going to hurt tomorrow.”

She shivered as she remembered the sick wet feeling that had accompanied being caressed by whatever the hell kind of energy that was. 

It was like all those nightmares she had had after her Mom mistakenly given her the collected works of Lovecraft for her eighth birthday. Stiles was precocious but she still had the occasional irrational fear of the ocean because of the Deep Ones. 

She started when Lydia grabbed her arm and squeezed hard enough to bruise,

“Thank you.”

She nodded and used her other hand to give Lydia the now slightly shinier necklace. It might have just been the sunlight in the doctor’s office but it glinted twice as Lydia slipped it over her head and then appeared to relax into the back of her chair. She smiled tiredly and then looked back to Doc Deaton,

“Okay load us down with mountain ash and we’ll go to Lydia’s house to make it safe for her party tomorrow night.”   
She jumped and then furrowed her perfect strawberry blonde eyebrows,   
“ Am I still having a party?”   
“Of course! It’s your Birthday!”   
She suddenly looked so tiny and Stiles swallowed hard,   
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but my name doesn’t hold the same cache it used to anymore in this town. I’m not sure anyone wants to go to Gothika the sweet seventeen.”   
“Really? We’re gonna reference that movie?”   
Lydia looked down her nose haughtily and then burst into giggles.     
Stiles snickered back, she didn’t giggle, it wasn’t her thing.   
“Don’t worry, between Scott, Allison, and I we should be able to throw a swinging shindig.”   
“You understand why I’m skeptical when you use words for ‘party’ that are before even my parents time.”   
Stiles blew her choppy bangs out of her eyes and grumbled.    
Doctor Deaton stood up and said,   
“You’ll have to be extra vigilant tomorrow night. The full moon is a time of power for all sorts of things not just werewolves and tomorrow is the last full moon of winter called the Worm Moon or Lenten Moon. It’s one of the lunar cycles known for rebirth and is probably Peter’s next chance for resurrection before the summer solstice.”   
Lydia blanched and Stiles patted her arm before standing and shaking the Doc’s hand,   
“Thanks. After tomorrow night we’ll come back and work on that long term ritual for banishing our evil Patrick Swayze for good.”   
“What is it with you and terrible movie references?”   
“I’ll have you know I’m a pop culture connoisseur of the highest order!”   
Deaton shook his head and said,   
“Stiles as exciting as magic seems it’s not a game. It’s a neutral force that can be turned to good or evil by the person controlling it. Be careful.”   
“Also if any of your pack needs to talk to someone I have a sister who is a psychologist and who is aware of shifters and other supernatural beings. It might be good to work out what you’ve experienced so far. You may be strong but you are young.”   
Both of them looked at each other warily then nodded silently to him. He was just trying to be helpful but at the moment it seemed like too much. 

Who was Doctor Deaton anyway? Did he have a first name? Was his name even Deaton? He seemed helpful so far but if he really was on their side wouldn’t he be out fighting with them? His presence was suddenly raising a bunch of questions in her head and none of them made her feel any less exhausted.

And on that note she dragged both of them out of the clinic to her Jeep. 

Alright she really needed send out the call and get the Avengers to assemble pronto. They all needed to get the full story so as a group they could coordinate a united front to defeat Peter once more. It had worked last time and there had only been four of them. 

Now there were at least eight of them if you didn’t count Jackson so theoretically they stood an even better chance of getting rid of him.

    Also she was going to take this opportunity to chew Derric out for being stupid and not making sure Peter was all dead instead of mostly dead.   
Because this was just getting ridiculous. It had to be a werewolf thing because if people were that easy to bring back from the dead then they would be living in a Romero movie right now.

She sent out a mass text asking everyone to come over for a pack meeting at her place at six. The text might have also included that Peter fucking Hale was contacting Lydia from the grave so it was kind of important everyone show up.

And if they had it at her place they could include her dad in the conversation and make it easier for him to be on board with stuff as well possibly ask Derric about adding him to the pack. 

Stiles didn’t think she would actually have to push too hard because her dad was already family and Derric wanted as much of that as possible.

Stiles totally understood the impulse. It was why she had spent so many years of her life being there for Scott. He was her family just like her dad and her mom before she passed on. 

And family meant nobody got left  behind or forgotten. Sometimes Disney movies did family right. Stiles tried not to think too hard about all the Disney characters with dead mothers because that was just too close to the truth. Yeah.

They got back home and she set to making a dinner large enough to feed a pack of hungry beasties. 

Which would be a little tough with the meager fare they had lying around the house, so after informing her dad that she was making giant meat lasagna and inviting the pack over for dinner she grabbed Lydia and dragged her out grocery shopping with her.

    Stiles went over to the meat counter to get several pounds of ground chuck when she heard the tower of cans on aisle seven go tumbling the ground in a thunderous crash. Pausing in her meat order she ran to go see what had happened to find Lydia collapsed, opposite the large frozen food freezers, panting and terrified.    
Stiles approached carefully and quietly murmured Lydia’s name before attempting to touch her.   
“She was in the freezer. Clawing at the door screaming. I couldn’t hear the screaming but she was. I think I knocked over the cans. Sorry.”

She was shell-shocked. Lydia probably had PTSD or something similar but also she was a fledgling medium. Both were very bad for her mental and physical health.

“Who? Laura?”   
She nodded as people had started to gather to stare and several supermarket employees had begrudgingly come to survey the damage. Stiles didn’t want to rush her but she also didn’t want to have to explain to anyone higher up in authority than the bag boy about what was going on.   
So she cajoled Lydia back with her to the meat counter, discretely got the rest of the necessary ingredients and got the hell out of there.  When they were once again safe in her Jeep she turned to her,   
“Hey I know that must have been terrible but there is an upside.”   
She waited for Lydia to turn to her slowly and then continued,   
“It wasn’t Peter.”   
That seemed to snap her out of her stupor and her eyes became fierce and bright as she clasped her necklace hard.   
“No I don’t think he will be able to bother me as long as I have this. Thank you Stiles.”   
She blushed. Stiles knew she looked ridiculous when she blushed, all blotchy and dumb, but she coughed and continued anyway,   
“Well I have a Birthday present for you anyway but that one is better so consider that my present. Happy Birthday early.”   
Lydia looked shocked and then smiled fondly,   
“Thank you Stiles.”   
The lump in her throat stopped her from speaking. 

It was a terrible idea to still be crushing on Lydia. But her heart and her brain just weren’t mind melding on this one. Unrequited love was so embarrassing for everyone involved. She had known Lydia was most likely only interested in big, stupid, rich boys but had still held out hope.

Now it just seemed wrong to still have those feelings. She was a friend who was going through an emotional crisis and anything other than friendly feelings right now was wrong and she knew it.  

They got home and found her dad setting the table for nine and she smiled as he tried to squish in all the extra folding chairs they had around the table.

“Stiles I’m okay with our house becoming a base of operations but you’re going to have to ask your friends to bring their own chairs from now on.”   
She smirked and said,   
“I’m pretty sure Derric’s house doesn’t have any chairs.”   
He quirked an eyebrow and she shrugged,   
“She doesn’t believe in the creature comforts I guess.”   
Lydia snorted and Stiles kept grinning and she started to mince some garlic.   
    Her instincts told her not to let Lydia out of her sight. And so she kept her busy by having her stir the sauce and banter with Stile’s dad. It was pleasant and very homelike and for the first time in weeks Stiles felt content.

She kept checking her phone for replies but so far no one had responded. She really hoped she wasn’t baking the largest lasagna ever for just three people. 

Because although she could put away about a bricks worth of lasagna, she tried not to make a habit of having a food baby, she was only almost seventeen after all.

As six came and went she got frustrated and left her dad and Lydia to take the lasagna and garlic bread out of the oven. She fired off one more text about everyone being fashionably late and it being not cute.

And waited.    
When ten more minutes past she got fed up and closed her eyes. Stiles knew that when a member of the pack howled it would summon the others. So there had to be some other way besides text messages and screaming to get ahold of Derric.

Taking a deep breath she visualized Derric’s creepy underground train car lair and saw her there with Boyd, Erica, and Isaac in her mind. And then she said her name, loud and clear. Like the ringing of a great bell it resonated and struck.

She felt it connect and knew Derric had too because now there was a connection, like an invisible thread, binding them together and slowly pulling her towards her. 

All she had to do now was wait for Derric to bring the rest of the pack. They would all come now.

She went back inside to find the lasagna cooling on top of the stove and Lydia and her dad digging into the garlic bread. They looked up guiltily and she sighed long-sufferingly.   
“Fine. Just save some for the rest of us.”   
Lydia rolled her eyes and handed her a large chunk of steaming bread. Stiles snatched it and shoved half of it in her mouth.

About fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang and she was surprised to find it was Scott and Allison looking awkwardly at each other instead of Derric and the rest of the gang. Welcoming them in she led them to the kitchen and let them choose where to sit before asking them what they wanted to drink and then getting it for them.

Many things could be said about Stiles Stilinski but that she was a bad hostess was not one of them. She took care of people. That was just what she did.

Then there was a knock and she grinned knowing instantly who was rapping at her chamber door. 

Derric and the three cubs were smooshed together on her front porch in the dim half lit bulb there.

“Do I have to invite you in or something?”   
Erica grinned wolfishly,   
“I vant to suck your blud.”   
Derric shot her a look and then turned to Stiles with a mildly frustrated scowl.    
The scowl was her base emotion and other emotions kind of just flitted over top of it.

Except for that extremely elusive smirk. She wouldn’t mind seeing more of it but now was not the time for that train of thought. There wasn’t really a good time for those thoughts actually, but she would eventually have to confront them.

“Alright dinner is done and waiting. Hope you guys like lasagna the size of a human torso. We’ll talk strategy afterwards.”

She was so relieved that everyone was here she almost passed out. Well that and massive use of energy earlier that day. She had been running on hopes and dreams and possibly her ADD.  

Derric shot forward and grabbed her by the arm, jerking her down the hallway towards the kitchen and forcing her into the closest chair. The rest of them crowded in around the table and sat down surprisingly silently.

When no one said anything she turned to her dad and shrugged. They usually just dug in and started talking about whatever came to mind. Whether it be school or work related or the mating habits of Northern spotted seals.

Stiles jolted as she realized Derric was at the head of the table and she was at her right side with Scott on her left and her dad at the foot. 

Somehow, without her noticing, they arranged themselves hierarchically at the table. Sighing she mumbled,

“It’s getting cold. You guys were kind of unfashionably tardy and I’m half starving so you might as well dig in. Chow down. Whatever it is werewolves do.”   
Derric rolled her eyes but cut a large piece of lasagna and served herself first. 

She huffed and took the serving spatula from her and started serving everyone else. Derric simply watched with mild disapproval until everyone, including Stiles, had a piece. 

She ate first and Erica, Isaac, and Boyd all turned to her eagerly. Shrugging she took a big bite of her lasagna and asked Allison to pass the garlic bread. 

After that it devolved into eating and joking about what happened at school and talking about plans for spring break.

    It was surprisingly comfortable and Stiles found herself actually content. She hadn’t been content in years, six years in fact.  It was shocking, Derric had even managed to contribute to polite conversation without growling or shoving someone into something. So she considered pack dinner time a success. 

After instructing the cubs to clean the table and start in on dishes so there wasn’t a hoard later for her and her dad to do she managed to drag her stuffed, tired, body to the couch. Derric sat down heavily next to her and she turned curious,

“What? Too important to pick up a sponge and Brillo pad grand canine poobah?”  
“Stiles.”  
She opened her mouth to speak but snapped it shut when she saw Derric’s actually concerned face. Hey look, another emotion other than a scowl. This was bad.  
“You smell injured and you look terrible.”  
“Gee thanks. A girl always wants to hear flowery compliments when she’s down.”  
The scowl was back, thank God.   
She knew how to deal with her brooding face but when an emotion actually fought its way onto it was when she got worried.  
“I may or may not have done the psychic equivalent of wrestling a bear in order to protect Lydia this afternoon. No big deal I just need to sleep.”  
Derric’s face wavered almost like it was made of water and she blinked slowly. That was weird. But then she straightened up as the rest of the Pack and her dad came in.   
Time to get down to business.  
“As nice as dinner was there is another reason we’re here right?”  
Allison’s smile was strained and she shifted from foot to foot against the wall opposite Stiles on the couch.  
“Basically we’re here to consolidate information and form a plan of attack because so far we’ve done a pretty shitty job of all being on the same page. Communication people. It is, in fact, the key to not dying. Learn something from history etc.”  
Lydia snorted and Scott coughed and said,  
“What’s going on Stiles?”  
“We are fighting a war on several fronts, one we were not made aware of because of all the  **SECRET KEEPING EVERYONE INSISTED IS NECESSARY FOR SAFETY**.  When really it’s going to get someone killed. That in a nutshell is what we’re here to talk about.”  
That got everyone's attention and she basked in it for a few beats before continuing,  
“Alright so everybody has been so focused on trying to find some way to defeat the Kanima when behind the scenes the Ghost of Christmas Fuck You, Peter Hale, has been Tom Riddling away at Lydia. And she’s been completely on her own because **WE’RE PROTECTING HER AND OURSELVES BY NOT EXPLAINING THINGS**. Yeah, that’s gonna have to change.”  
Everyone turned to Lydia who looked uncomfortable but continued where Stiles’ left off,  
“We talked to Doctor Deaton this afternoon and my dreams have confirmed with 99.89% accuracy that he is going to try and come back somehow tomorrow night. I would appreciate some Supernatural protection but as I understand it half the Pack is going into some sort of blood rage. But backup might be necessary, that means Derric and Scott.”  
Stiles had to put her two cents in,   
“That means not ignoring your damn phone, Scott.”  
He started to protest but she held up her hand to silence him,  
“I know you’re not the only one who does it.”  
She glared at Derric who bristled and then grumbled,  
“But we’ll also need to be keeping an eye on Jackson to find the Kanima master and stop him.”  
Stiles nodded grudgingly and Lydia raised her hand,  
“I can keep an eye on Jackson at the party to see if he’s acting strange. Stranger than normal. Out of all of you I know his moods the best.”  
“I think I might offer some help with who the master might be.”  
Everyone turned to her dad who had pulled one of the kitchen chairs in to the edge of their lopsided circle.  
“The police have brought in Adrian Harris for questioning because his tire tracks were found at one of the murder scenes and his car was spotted at the hospital because it had some weird bumper sticker, a quote from Einstein.”  
Stiles knew instantly it had been Harris’ car she had seen at the Rave two nights ago.  
“Alright before I start making wild conjectures about Bad Touch Teacher being the Kanima’s master lets get some facts straight here because I feel like not everyone present is on the same page.”  
Allison and Scott conspicuously avoided eye contact and she sighed.  
“Fact one: when Erica, Isaac and I talked to meat puppet Jackson, the Kanima master said he was dead and that all the people Jackson was killing were his murderers.”  
“Fact two: Allison’s Mommy Dearest tried to kill Scott with a vaporizer full of wolfsbane to make it look like an asthma attack before Derric rescued him.”  
Allison’s eyes went huge and she whipped around to Scott,  
“But why didn’t you tell me? I thought you were avoiding me because of Matt! I know my parents don’t like you but my Mom would never-”  
Derric stood but didn’t advance towards Allison,  
“They no longer follow The Code. Thanks to your grandfather all the Hunters in Beacon Hills have been ordered to kill all werewolves on sight. And if they’re anything like Kate they won’t hesitate to kill human members of the Pack, or children.”  
Her eyes were ruthless and ringed with red and everyone, even the people without heightened senses, cringed away from her. 

Stiles cleared her throat and put a comforting hand on Derric’s arm. She felt her go wooden under her touch but she didn’t let go.

“Your mom thinks she’s protecting you, but what she’s really trying to do is murder a sixteen year old boy. And my guess is she will keep trying. They think you’ve already chosen them or that you will ultimately. But it’s up to you.”   
She shrugged and Allison looked slightly ill,   
“I know Kate wasn’t who I thought she was and if Scott says my Mom was trying to kill him then I believe him. But I still don’t think my entire family is as bad as you are saying. I mean they can’t be, I’ve known them all my life.”   
“Hey she’s right. It could just be her Mom that wants to kill me. I mean they all know where I live and no one has come to my door with a crossbow.”   
Derric snarled,   
“This isn’t a game Scott! There’s a reason why she tried to make it look like an asthma attack. That goes for all of you. The Hunters have been killing our kind for longer than any of your families have had last names.”   
“I want to do something to help.”   
Her dad was just full of surprises tonight.   
“Dad I wish you could but it’s too dangerous for someone who hasn’t had any training or field experience in—”   
“Stiles you’re going to lecture me about this being too dangerous? Seriously Missy that is the wrong tack to take. You and Allison are entirely human and just as vulnerable as I am. Probably more so because you haven’t spent the last fifteen years of your lives as cops.”   
“Yeah, but Allison has been raised by hunters who trained her in archery and hand to hand combat. As well as the fastest way to dismember something big angry and hairy.”   
“ As for me, I mostly stay out of the way but very recently might have maybe gained some magical whammy powers so not completely helpless either here.”   
Her dad shook his head and was about to argue further when she burst out,   
“Dad you’ve already given up enough for this without even being aware of it. You were practically fired because of me, this, and no offense but anything you might have been able to threaten the Argents with went in to the same locked vault as your service pistol.”   
He deflated slightly but when he raised his eyes to Derric’s they were hard and determined. Her stomach dropped. No.   
“I want the bite.”   
Everyone’s head in the room, including Derric’s, whipped to him.   
“You do realize what you are asking for Mr. Stilinski?”   
“Call me Andrew. And yes. I know that it’s the only way I can continue to protect my family.”   
Derric nodded and made to move forward but Stiles shot out an arm to stop her.   
“Dad you don’t have to do this to protect me. I’ll be fine. I promise!”   
Lydia patted Stiles on the shoulder comfortingly and then addressed the former Sheriff,    
“ Mr. Stilinski the best thing you can do is try to get your job back so you can put the hurt on the Argents legally. Assaulting Scott wasn’t legal even if it would be iffy to prove what exactly Victoria Argent had been attempting to do.”   
This time it was Derric who shook her head,   
“If they knew that he knew about shifters and was willingly helping us they would probably try to kill him as well. The previous sheriff retired but the one before that went missing mysteriously and was presumed dead. He was a friend to my family’s Pack and the hunters found out. ”   
Lydia let out a low whistle and she put her head in her hands,   
“So how do we do this?”   
Derric took a few more steps towards Andrew before Stiles snapped back into reality and physically tried to pull her away from him,   
“Oh no! We are not doing this tonight don’t even think about it.”   
“Stiles it’s his choice and I am willing to abide it.”   
She frowned,   
“No. We’ll talk about this later. What I mean is that tomorrow night is the full moon and you would have four vicious killing machines to corral instead of three. Don’t you ever plan ahead? Don’t any of you? How are you not all dead yet seriously?”   
“I like to think it’s the luck of the Irish.”   
Isaac quipped and Erica playfully rapped him on the side of the head, smirking.   
“So what are we going to do about Peter Hale and the Kanima? We can worry about the Argents and more Pack members later.”   
Stiles was 99% sure that Boyd was the only person that Derric had bitten after becoming alpha with any amount competence in critical thinking.   
Isaac, Erica, and yes Jackson, were all lacking in perception, charisma, and wisdom. They put all their points in strength and dexterity and were found lacking for it. Who the hell uses perception as a dump stat anyway?   
“After the full moon we’re going to use a ritual to hopefully banish Peter Hale for good. Because **SOMEONE DIDN’T DECAPITATE THAT ASSHOLE**. Or you know, bury him properly so he couldn’t come back and hurt Lydia every night in her dreams.”

Stiles wished she had more energy right now because she wasn’t about to let that go. That was Derric’s responsibility as alpha. Protecting her pack. 

And so far she had been doing a pretty sloppy job of it. There was a sinking suspicion in her heart that Derric was like Harry Potter in so much as she was a shitty leader who didn’t really want to be a leader but instead just wanted to be a part of a family who loved her. Dang that was an accurate analogy.  

When Derric didn’t growl or respond she continued,

“And if that works we can use the same spell on the Kanima master if he’s dead. If that doesn’t work then we’ll come at it from the angle of trying to get Jackson to get over his man pain so he’s a werewolf again instead of a member of Jurassic Park Northern California Branch.”   
Lydia swallowed but her voice didn’t waver,   
“And if that doesn’t work?”   
Derric didn’t hesitate,   
“Then we let him keep killing or figure out some way to kill him.”   
Lydia blanched white and Stiles motioned her over until she noticed and hesitantly let her hug her back.  

Wrapping an arm around her she patted her shoulder and felt her go stiff and then noodle limp,

“I think I might know how to get rid of the Hunter problem. Or at least make things in Beacon Hills very hard for them.”   
Everyone turned to Boyd and he straightened up a little,   
“Well if any of you paid attention to local politics you’d know the current city council has been trying to pass a weapons ban in city limits and the natural reserve. There’s been a bit of off-season poaching with all the shootings in the news you can never be too safe.”   
“If the weapons ban legislation was to gain the support of say a concerned student group and maybe a rich benefactor then it might be passed. The only thing holding it back has been some rich landowners around the preserve, namely the Argents, who still want to be able to hunt on their land.”   
“But where are we going to get a rich benefactor?”   
Scott looked baffled and Stiles had to resist the urge to hit her head on the coffee table in front of her. Lydia rolled her eyes but then continued,   
“Well for one I’m sure I can back it privately but I assume Derric has quite an inheritance. Eleven adult life insurance policy payoffs couldn’t have been chump change. And if we get the legislation passed then we can smack them with a fat lot of charges; like gun trafficking, endangerment of a minor, obstruction of justice, poaching. That’s just the beginning.”   
Allison was looking worse and worse and said,   
“Sometimes they help. I know that once Hunters actually did a service and lived in truce with different packs in the community.”   
Derric looked up gravely and murmured,   
“Maybe once. But that was a long time ago. Now they simply kill us because we exist.”   
Allison flinched and swallowed,   
“I don’t think my entire family deserves that. Can we just hold off on outright attacking them? Maybe there’s some way we can come to a truce again”   
Derric shook her head and looked past Allison out the window stonily.    
The entire room descended into a tense silence.    
Stiles really didn’t think they were going to get anywhere right now. Allison loved her family as much as Derric had loved her own. They were just trying to protect them.   
“Okay one more order of business for this week's meeting.”   
“Wait this is going to be a weekly thing?”   
“Do you have anything better to do Scott? You know besides letting me help you study so you’re not a super sophomore.”   
He didn’t respond and instead sulked so Stiles continued,   
“Tomorrow night on the full moon and from now on we’re going to operate on a buddy/group system. Every one is with at least one member of the pack whenever they aren’t at home. That means school, that means grocery shopping, that means midnight showdowns in the woods. We’re all in this together. If you can’t figure out pairings on your own I can make a Rota with shiny smiley face stickers but I’m really tired so that might have to wait for tomorrow.”   
Everyone except Allison and her dad gave her the side eye and she had a feeling she was going to wake up drenched in sweat and stuck to three people’s sides and faces again.    
This was going to become a regular thing. Derric stood and the rest of the furry part of the Pack followed.   
“I think we’re done for tonight.”   
“Tomorrow is the full moon but also Lydia’s birthday party so I think Allison and I will be there and Scott can help the rest of you with the full moon.”   
“But I need to keep an eye on Jackson!”   
“Odds are he’ll be there but not to kill anyone. Everyone at the party will be too young to have gone to class with the Kanima master. So go help Derric.”   
“But you said that Jackson was more likely to strike on the full moon!”   
He looked even more sullen but then Allison shot him an apologetic look and he perked right up. 

She resisted the urge to gag and instead turned to Derric who was watching her with a subdued smile. 

Her eyes went wide and she watched as her look once again became a shuttered glare. After that everyone filtered out except her dad and Lydia. 

It was unspoken but she was going to be staying the night again tonight as well. Stiles managed to make it upstairs before collapsing onto her bed. She tried not to groan as she felt Lydia crawl into bed with her.

“Aren’t you going to put on pajamas?”   
“Too tired. Sleep now.”   
Lydia snorted and started to gently remove her hoodie and when she went for her pants she suddenly woke up,   
“Whoa! I’m good, these jeans are a second skin I’m actually half denim, it’s my animal power.”   
She got a derisive snort,   
“First cotton is not an animal and second put on your damn pajamas Stiles.”   
Grumbling she managed to stumble into a worn out ACDC t-shirt and floppy Tinker Bell PJ bottoms and then back to bed.     
Then Lydia was curling up behind her, snuggling her head in the crook of her shoulder.     
“I’m sorry.”   
Lydia blew out a breath against her neck,   
“Apology still not accepted but this is helping a little so you might eventually be forgiven.”   
That was enough to allow her to close her eyes and fall into a light, heated sleep.   
She was startled awake by Lydia practically jumping out of her bed. She managed to fumble the light on her bed stand to find Derric hiding in the shadows by her window looking mildly sheepish.   
“Lydia calm down. Shhh it’s fine it’s not him.”   
She was shaking but straightened out her nightie and then climbed back onto Stiles’ bed to glare balefully at Derric.   
‘What do you want at,” she glanced at the clock and swore, “3 AM?”   
She had the decency to apologize to Lydia,   
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake either of you. I was just checking to make sure you were safe.”   
“By breaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night? Do you have any idea how creepy that is?”   
Lydia snuck an arm under hers on top the coverlet and kept glaring at Derric.   
“I do it most nights but I forgot Lydia would be here with you tonight. When I saw someone in your bed I got worried.”   
From the way her eyes were shining but not glowing red she was pretty sure there was some subtext there but now was not the time.   
“Well now you know everything is fine so go check on Scott or something. I am about two hours less of sleep away from threatening you with a large frying pan so get out.”

She simply nodded and effortlessly dropped out the window while closing it in one motion.

“She does that every night you know.”   
“Yeah I figured.”   
“And it doesn’t bother you?”   
“She’s never tried to do anything to me that I didn’t want her to. Oddly enough I trust her.”   
“But she’s stalking you Stiles. That isn’t healthy or normal or right.”   
“I think she does it to everyone she cares about because she’s lost everybody in her life that ever meant something to her. So I’m willing to cut her a little slack because I understand partially what that feels like.”

That seemed to be enough for Lydia to leave the subject alone for now. And she was eternally grateful because she couldn’t hold her eyelids open any longer.

 

 


End file.
